Unhinged’s Top 10 Album Artworks of 2013…So Far

Before you hear the music, you see the cover art; and let’s
face it, when you’re in the store making that final decision to listen to a new
band or pick up that album a friend recommended, you look at the art and judge
what type of album you’re about to listen to. If the art is crappy, most of us
assume the album will follow right behind. Here at Unhinged Music, we want to
honor the artwork that has caught our eye throughout the year so far, and applaud
the artist that may have helped someone pick up a band’s latest CD. Kicking the
list off with…

10. Ghost: Infestissumam

ARTIST: Necropolitus Cracoviensis Zbigniew Bielak II

Infestissumam (Latin for hostile) is the sophomore album released on April 10th from the Swedish heavy metal band, Ghost. Mostly known for their outlandish and downright disturbing attire by some and a promising rising metal act by others, we give them the rightfully earned spot on our list with this sinister artwork which was inspired by the band, the album lyrics and the artist. Even though the artwork you see before you is the official album artwork, the original deluxe addition album cover that featured female nudity, strong sexual content, and satanic themes was turned down by several U.S. CD manufactures for its content. They eventually decided to use this art for both releases. If you’re that curious, I’m sure enough Google searches will lead you to it.

9. Five Finger Death Punch: The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell

ARTIST: Greg Capullo

The Wrong Side of Heaven and The Righteous Side of Hell takes our 9th spot on the countdown! This latest Five Fingered Death Punch release is one heavy album, but before the tracks were heard, the artwork caught our eye. Created by Greg Capullo, who is most known as the comic book artist for Batman and Spawn as well as the creator of Korn’s Follow the Leader and Distubed’s Ten Thousand Fists, Five Finger Death Punch was pretty much guaranteed wicked good album art. This beast from hell, adorned with army fatigue and brass knuckles, is the perfect representation for the theme of the album.

Thrash metal band, Ramming Speed, comes in our 8th spot with their latest release, Doomed to Destroy, Destined to Die. Even though this list is a tribute to the art, we have to admit that the music from this album is just as killer as the album design. The music and the art is a vicious assault to the eyes and ears in the best way possible.

We got a chance to talk to Todd White himself about the inspiration behind the artwork: “The imagery is my conception of the lyrics. It has elements of several songs put together. There is a huge amount of anger, desolation and frustration in the lyrics. Corporate control, lost of environment,continuous war, I wanted to embody these ideas into a central figure that it the face of doom and destruction. There is some interesting commentary embedded in the image. There are stars and stripes emerging from the top of the wolf’s head, like the wolf showing its true colors. Also, the eagles are holding reigns on the snakes controlling them and sort of just holding them at bay. Once you flip the record over the whole scene of desolation and doom is revealed.”
The artist describes the art best and Ramming Speed has rightfully earned a spot on the list.

7. Killswitch Engage: Disarm the Descent

ARTIST: Mike D’Antonio

Time to move on with the countdown to our 7th spot album artwork from Killswitch Engage’s Disarm the Descent. The album is most known for the comeback of former Killswitch vocalist, Jesse Leach, but here we had to bring attention to this deliciously dark artwork. Created by the bassist, Mike D’Antonio, the artwork combines both beauty and despair featuring a veil covered woman with flames burning from her chest. The image seems to tell a story based on the female’s facial emotion, and that’s why it makes our list.

6. Kvelertak: Meir

ARTIST: John Dyer Baizley of the band Baroness

Making its way onto
our list in the number 6th spot is this 6-piece heavy metal
Norwegian band Kvelertak, which is by the way one bad-ass metal name translated
as “chokehold.” Things always sound better in Norwegian! However, their latest
album release Meir, created by John
Dyer Baizley of the band Baroness, got our attention for the most bizarre of
reasons. If liking this album cover is wrong, then I don’t wanna be right. At
first glance this seems like the typical slightly erotic, but beautiful piece
of artwork and then you really look at it and this “what the f**k” expression
comes across your face. This album cover gets a 5/5 on the hilarity, but let’s
face it, bird crap can only get you so far on this list.

5. Green Death: The Deathening

ARTIST: Eliran Kantor

Coming up at number 5 is one band Unhinged Music fans should
be pretty familiar with. Combining thrash and death metal into a wicked good
sound for the ears, Green Death’s, The Deathening, is taking over our list.
Speaking of things taking over, have you looked at this insanely amazing album
cover? This massive, green squid demon monster has now made it on my list of
things I would hate to look out of my window and see. The creator is the great Eliran
Kantor, who also created the cover art for Testament’s “Dark Roots of Earth” and
“The Formation of Damnation,” as well as Hatebreed’s latest album “Divinity of
Purpose.” To put it bluntly, this guy knows what the hell he’s doing. As far as
the music goes, well the album isn’t out…yet; but from what we’ve heard from
them so far, we know it’s worth the wait and a fall release is in the works.

4. Amon Amarth: Deceiver of the Gods

ARTIST: Amon Amarth

This next album cover has us preparing for battle with metal
band Amon Amarth’s, Deceiver of the Gods,
coming in at number 4! How can you look at this and not want to Sparta kick
someone in the ass in one epic battle?! The cover is a bit more subtle than the
rest of our list, but tells us one hell of a war is about to begin and we
should be in it! Here’s a little message from the band about the cover: “The
cover depicts the last battle between the Gods and Loki who arrives at Vigridr
field accompanied by the army of the dead during Ragnarok, the end of the
world. We hope you enjoy it.” Why yes, yes we do!

Only 3 spots left in our countdown. Let the main attraction
massacre begin!

3. Autopsy: The Headless Ritual

ARTIST: Joe Petagno

Death-metal band Autopsy is coming in at number 3 with their
latest release, The Headless Ritual.
This album artwork is salaciously sinister in every way possible. Created by
evil genius Joe Petagno, who also worked with Motörhead, Pink Floyd and Led
Zeppelin, this cover literally oozes with gore, which is just how we like our
death metal album covers. If you look closely, there are a lot more faces in
this picture than one would see at first glance and that discovery is quite
disturbing. Check out what the band has
to say about this album: “Expect nothing less than the monstrous brutality
that Autopsy has been known to offer. Laurels will not be rested upon, trends
will not be followed and mercy will not be shown. Mark your calendars for June
and pick out a coffin to lie down and die in. Darkness and death
await…..” This pretty much sums up that the band is just as evil as
their artwork.

2. Coffins: The Fleshland

ARTIST: Chris Moyen

Our 2nd slot goes to another brutal death metal
band, Coffins for their album, The
Fleshland. This album artwork is the perfect imagery for sacrificing gone
terribly wrong, not that there is a right way to sacrifice someone, but this
scene is much darker and twisted than the average ritual. Created by Chris
Moyen, who also worked with Black Witchery, Incantation, and Blasphemy, leaves
no detail unfinished. Something about a skeleton eating something of the living
just doesn’t sit too well with us. Thanks for the new nightmare Coffins!

1. Mortillery: Origin of Extinciton

ARTIST: Todd
“Rocket” Knutson

Finally, we’ve reached number 1 and have seen some
disturbing, epic, enticing, and downright hilarious covers, but this cover takes
our number one spot with ease. Coming in
on the top of it all is the thrash-metal band from Canada, Mortillery with
their album, Origin of Extinction.
Album covers don’t get much better than this one! Created by Todd
“Rocket” Knutson, the details displayed throughout this album cover
are astounding. From the cracks in the skulls, to the debris laden city, and
the insects that slowly make their way to infest the scene, nothing was left to
the imagination. This cover means massacre. Unhinged Music got a chance to chat
with the band about Origins of Extinction’s
artwork. Check out what guitarist Alex Gutierrez has to say about the story
behind the album art: “For this cover, we wanted to express the unmistakable
truth that is the future of humanity. That is total annihilation. Our songs are
usually about the demise of society, serial murderers, and everything else that’s
terribly wrong in the world. We feel the cover expresses exactly what our songs
and band are about.” If the display of total annihilation isn’t deserving of
number one, we don’t know what is.

So there you have it. Our list of the Top 10 Album Artworks
of 2013…So Far. Do you have an album you think should make the final list for
2013? Let us know and your suggestion could be featured here!

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